Japanese scientists eye ‘made-to-order’ bones

[theblackalchemist]

Japanese scientists eye ‘made-to-order’ bones

 

Tokyo: Japanese hospitals are running a clinical trial on the world’s first custom-made bones, which would fit neatly into patients’ skulls and eventually give way to real bones.

 

If successful, the new technology could open the way for doctors to create new bones within hours of an accident, as long as the patient has electronic data on file.

 

The new implants are called CT Bone, as they are crafted using the patient’s computer tomography (CT) data – a form of medical imaging.

 

It can match the complicated structures of the jaw, cheek and other parts of the skull down to one millimetre, researchers said.

 

“It can also be replaced by your own bone, which wasn’t possible before with conventional ceramic bones,” said Tsuyoshi Takato, an orthopaedic surgeon and professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine.

 

The implants are currently limited to use in the skull because, unlike limbs, they do not have to carry the body weight.

 

HOW IT WORKS

 

Using computer-assisted design, the custom-made bones are created from calcium phosphate powder – the substance that makes up real bones – and a solidifying liquid.

 

In the same way that an ink-jet printer propels droplets onto a piece of paper, a device squirts the liquid on a 0.1-millimetre-thick layer of the powder to form a desired shape.

 

The device, which was developed with Tokyo-based firm Next 21, repeats the process and builds up layers that have different shapes. For example, 100 layers create a one-centimetre thick implant.

 

Mumbai Mirror - Japanese scientists eye ?made-to-order? bones, Tech - TechTalk,Mumbai Mirror

[GAHD]

funny, you'd think they could just use something from these guys, just change out the materials used.